


sparklight

by atramento



Series: must be dreaming [2]
Category: Final Fantasy Tactics
Genre: Argath/Tietra if you squint, Canon Compliant, During Canon, Elemental Magic, Gen, Magic, Magical Accidents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:21:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26006380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atramento/pseuds/atramento
Summary: Tietra decides to try her hand at learning spellcraft.
Series: must be dreaming [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1887547
Comments: 4
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

Tietra shivered, rubbing her hands for any semblance of heat inside Eagrose Castle. As her brother and their friend Ramza waged war against faceless, terrifying men Tietra was staving off both the cold and a nagging feeling that wind fronts were going to blizzard through Eagrose quite soon. 

She was not looking forward to that one bit. Perhaps she could go to the markets, buy a pair of mitts--

“Oh, pardon!” She did not realize she had walked into someone until her own voice called out, shrill and apologetic. “I’m so sorry, mister-- uh...” Oh dear. She did not quite remember his name but the face was very familiar. Dark, messy brunette hair and steely grey eyes that peered out from a thick blue cloak. 

She also knew he was often in Ramza and Delita’s company, at least, but that seemed to be the limit of her knowledge. If she were not aspiring to be a proper lady like Alma, she would have cursed her lack of memory. 

He smiled kindly though and turned to bow lightly at her. “Fret not, Miss Tietra. You were lost with thoughts, same as I was.” He did not look like a nobleling from the Akademy at all... perhaps that is what gave Tietra the courage to curtsey and smile at him in response. 

“I’m Wymond. You might have seen me practicing my spellcraft a few nights ago.” The young man explained as they started to walk side by side down a corridor. Wymond, that was the name! Yes, she remembered now more clearly-- Wymond had indeed been showing off a new spell he had learned, which was to manipulate pure lightning to strike the ground and leave a scorch upon the earth where it had struck. 

Delita and all of the others gathered had merely clapped afterwards, but it had been a prodigiously indescribable event for Tietra herself to witness. She often wondered after if she too could wield the elements with such power and ease. 

Tietra bit the top of her bottom lip before deciding to chance her companion’s ridicule. “Ser Wymond--” Tietra halted when Wymond immediately stopped to turn and look at her. 

“Yes, Miss Tietra?” She could not be frightened away by mere politeness or the protocol of noble society now! The young lady swallowed her inhibitions and exhaled a fogged breath before speaking again. 

“Would you teach me magic, Ser Wymond? Just a little... I... I will be quiet and listen closely, of that you can--” Wymond raised a hand, chuckling to himself. 

“Miss Tietra, I beg pardons. You needed only ask me! Magic was meant for all, not just the men.” His words relieved a burden in her ribs she did not realize she was feeling, not unlike a compact breath held too long. 


	2. Chapter 2

“When casting magic such as this, you draw from the natural energies of the world-- if not the universe.” Wymond explained before intaking a deep portion of air. She could observe his lips start moving constantly, soundlessly. A part of Tietra wanted to know what he was saying but could not discern a single word anyhow. 

Either way, a flickering flame then appeared in his hand-- and grew minimally when he cupped the infant flame closer between gloved palms.

Tietra’s eyes were wide but she remembered to nod in response. She had a host of questions broiling in the pot of her mind and yet no initiative to ask them right away for fear of missing the wonderment just before her. 

Besides, Wymond had seemed pleasantly enthused when Tietra displayed a distinct interest in sampling the knowledge he held over the arcane. She was not looking to dampen his excitement yet-- who knew if she could even wield the magic he offered? 

“You can hold the fire now if you wish--” Wymond’s voice flickered through her contemplation. “Simply remember that the flame is a product of the energies all around us... and you are its master.” 

She approached both mage and flame, staring in awe. Wymond smiled as she did so, his pale face and teeth illuminated by the warm glow. Wymond gradually extended his arms out a little, letting Tietra reach it easier. Her slender fingers reached for the flame, daring to cup the fire into her own hands.

“It... it is not as warm as I imagined a magick fire to be.” She blinked, watching the fire wisp above her outstretched palms.

Wymond laughed a little. “I assure you, Miss Tietra-- if you flung the fire at someone, it would feel quite scalding to them.” Tietra decided to take his word for it. She was about to ask how to dispel the flames now when a hand rested on her shoulder.

“Miss Tietra--” A voice began to speak behind her but Tietra yelped and spun around to push the voice away from her out of shocked surprise. “Augh! ...AAAH!” The figure began patting his middle torso frantically trying to put the flame out.

Tietra gasped when she realized that she had set Argath on fire.


	3. Chapter 3

The flame seemed only to grow at Argath’s desperate attempt to put it out; his gloved hands batted uselessly onto the burning leather. “Ah! Argath! I...!” Tietra gasped, hands darting between herself, the air, and Argath. Wymond was but a shade, a cloaked figure in the corner of her vision as she decided to kneel and scoop up snow to toss onto the flame.

It muffled with a hiss and sputtered, leaving a scorched and dark brim on the hide of Argath’s armor. The three youths were quiet for a moment before Wymond spoke up. “I would say your first lesson went well, Miss Tietra.” The amusement, if not evident enough in his tone, was brimming in the mage’s expression. “Though _Lord Thadalfus_ might fare better with a warning and some distance the next time, eh?” 

“I could fare better--” Argath spat the word. “--without your cavalier attitude, Rorich. Not all share your sentiments of warfare and...” His lips pause, open amid words that seemingly no longer mattered when he faced Tietra. 

“Ah... Miss Tietra.” Argath seemed to have forgotten her presence, though the manner in which his curmudgeonly expression fell away was not lost on Wymond, whose own smirk grew. 

“Is there something you needed with Miss Tietra, Argath, or are you going to convince her of the fault of my stratagem as well?” Wymond drew his cloak as he spoke, which reminded Tietra how freezing cold her hands were now from direct contact with the snow.

Argath’s eyes seemed almost pallid as he lowered them. “We depart proper in the morning. Your brother was hoping to speak with you, Miss Tietra, before he had to leave your company.” 

Something in Tietra froze colder than her thawing, throbbing hands. She realized that this might be the last time she saw Delita for a long time. And not just him; but Ramza, Wymond and... and Argath. Poor company he might have often made-- but he had fought for her all the same despite hardly knowing her. 

She wondered if he would miss her presence in return. “I will go to see him...” Tietra choked out. “If you will escort me, as well.” Wymond raised a dark eyebrow while both of Argath’s golden brows rose in disbelief. 

“Well, I-- Miss Tietra--” Argath stammered, but Wymond cut into his anxious yammering with a soft chuckle. 

“I see our lessons will have to continue later, Miss Tietra. Take care.” He bowed, rising up with a grin. “See to it that Argath stays out of trouble this time, ahaha!” He turned to leave and Tietra saw from the side of her vision Argath silently reaching out to him and making a strangled hissing sound. He brought his fist back, clenched and shaking lightly. Was any association with her that horrid to imagine for the lordling? 

She pivoted to him slowly and he to her. There they stood, momentarily silent in the snowfall and amid the backdrop of the wintry Eagrose castle.

Tietra tried not to look at the charred flesh of Argath’s leather armor and instead looked at his face; how ruddy the nose and cheeks were, how his lips were chapped and barely parted. And then she blinked; what fanciful thoughts, to linger on the face of a young lad..! She was sure Alma would have been teasing her, were she here.


End file.
